A student is considered to be deaf or hard of hearing if there is a medically diagnosed hearing loss that results in such a substantial difficulty that he/she requires direct, frequent, and ongoing support from a Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

The educational program of a deaf or hard of hearing student includes the regular program and may include specific instruction in language development, auditory management, speech reading, sign language, and/or deaf culture.

Most, but not all, hearing losses are detected prior to students entering the school system. All students referred to Student Support Services require a vision and hearing screening. If there are concerns about an individual student's hearing that are not addressed by a hearing screening, referrals for the Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing can be made through the School Based Team to Student Support Services.